I have a friend who has some senior CAA qualifications. He is self-employed as a consultant, and knows one of the top people in FCL at Gatwick. In discussion with this chap it occurs to my friend that this man has no idea how much it costs my friend to keep all his various qualifications current. His automatic assumption is that the company provides an aircraft, and pays the test fee. But what about self-employed consultants and the unemployed? Do the CAA only work for the large companies? That CAA employee came straight out of the services into the CAA, and has never had to pay for flying let alone a test fee in his life.
The CAA and JAA even more so are too far out of touch. I see it in exam questions, and in the syllabus as a ground instructor. I see it in the impossibility of phoning through to anyone at Gatwick (which is a shocking scandal, and more staff are needed if the current bunch cannot cope with enquiries). Better still make fewer errors and stupid rules, and give more information in the website, and give an email address for non-urgent queries.